Tuesday, December 15, 2009

All In The Family

When asked what I think would get people out on bicycles I always say you have to get the Moms. If you want urban bicycling to catch hold and really make a difference in how we all live you have to get the moms on bicycles, preferably with their kids. But really, the idea extends to families, period. If you get families to ride the rest will fall into place.

Absolutely spot on as always ladies - if we want cycling to be something for the masses then it needs to be something the masses feel safe doing.

We all know that cycling is as safe as walking down the street, or vacuuming your house, but the general public's perception is that it's a dangerous activity and a bit of a hair shirt. The more people like you who are out there every day (with kids in tow!) showing cycling to be the everyday and ordinary activity that it is, the better.

I was thinking about family biking the other day while on my normal city streets bike commute. I would never ride that same route with a kid in tow, and it's a marked bike route with alternating bike lanes and sharrows. The infrastructure in Chicago needs to be improved A LOT before parents will feel confident riding their kids around. Taking side streets would be fine, but side streets end all the time and never go over highways and rivers, so they are not feasible routes for traveling beyond one's neighborhood.